


Armored Smiles, Hidden Hearts

by Disasternoj



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Akko is a stress-cuddler, Angst, Comedy, Diakko, Diana tries too hard and Akko is not amused, Dianakko, Dianakko Week 2019, F/F, Fluff, Hugs, Introvert Diana, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Six months after the Noire Missile Crisis, Snark, Social Anxiety, but only the New Nine know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 17:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20450870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Disasternoj/pseuds/Disasternoj
Summary: Luna Nova’s resident heiress never does well with extended public interaction. The only one who knows is Akko. Sometimes, the stress of keeping up with everyone else in school and still practicing performance magic catches up with Akko. When it does, she goes to Diana.In a world once more abuzz with magic and often overwhelming, they have each other.





	1. A worn and fragile smile

** _February_ **

“You really shouldn’t push yourself so hard, you know.”

Diana looked up from her essay to find one Atsuko Kagari leaning against the inside of her door, arms folded across her chest and looking rather unhappy with her.

In a moment of instinctual panic, Diana pasted the warmest smile she could muster onto her face, and lied. “I don’t know what you mean, Akko.” The padded wooden desk chair creaked beneath her, as if in protest. Despite the guilty twinge in her chest, Diana was still too tense to lower her defenses, even for Akko.

She couldn’t even look her in the eye.

The brunette’s frown only deepened as she pushed off the door with her hip and silently strode over to Diana. The uncharacteristic silence was unnerving- Akko was only quiet when something was very wrong.

Before Diana could muster anything to say, Akko had already climbed into her lap and wrapped her arms around the startled blonde witch. “Don’t,” she murmured into Diana’s hair. “You don’t have to do that with me, remember?”

The false smile crumbled and fell away from Diana’s face, pulled down into the depths by the weight of her weariness. She buried her face into Akko’s shoulder, returning the hug like the tiny witch in her lap was her only lifeline. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into muffling blue fabric, breath hitching in her chest. “I’m sorry. I know. I know, it’s just… hard.”

Akko remained silent as Diana struggled to express herself, resting her head atop the shaking blonde’s. She knew enough about what Diana had been through growing up to rage quietly at the uncaring aristocrats that surrounded her from childhood, drowning her in her anxieties without a single sincere kind word.

After she lost her mother, her best friend, there was no one. The empty condolences only made it worse. Then, for a long, long time, it was only Anna. She may not have cared much for Akko when they first met, but Anna was Diana’s rock throughout her childhood, and for that Akko was willing to forgive much.

Responsibility was forced upon Diana at an early age, and endless social functions only drained her energy faster, leaving her a cold shell of herself in public. After so many years of hiding behind a mask in public, the fake smiles, deflections, and pleasantries had become a habit so ingrained that only a handful of people ever saw her real feelings on anything.

Hannah and Barbara were good for her, now that they were _friends_ instead of followers, but they didn’t know everything. With how new their relationship was, even Akko's loving care hadn’t broken her of the habit yet.

Diana sighed into Akko’s shoulder, trying to let go of the tension still thrumming throughout her body and take the comfort she was being offered. Akko was right. She had overdone it again, trying to be the perfect, gracious Cavendish prodigy by speaking at a conference on healing magic while still juggling schoolwork and helping the professors.

She was exhausted, and had instinctually tried to hide it from Akko despite knowing better, knowing that she would see right through her and that it would only hurt them both.

Akko’s words had shattered her self-made prison of glass.

Gently rubbing Diana’s back with one hand, Akko murmured, “You could start by letting someone else take over your patrols when you’re this busy, you know. Then you could at least get some decent sleep after teaching those stuffy old doctors for so long.”

Diana chuckled quietly. It was so very Akko to call a conference of the country’s foremost medical professionals “stuffy old doctors”.

“Someone has to keep an eye on the school grounds,” Diana began, sensing the return of Akko’s adorable little frown, “but I suppose it doesn’t have to be me.”

“Good,” Akko hummed. “You need a break from _everything_, but that will do for now.”

Diana huffed, smiling against her will. “And what about you, Little Chariot? I know you’ve been out practicing behind the greenhouse at all hours by yourself again,” she scolded.

Akko stiffened in her arms and tried to pull away, but Diana wasn’t having it, keeping her arms locked tight around the brunette’s waist and resting the side of her head against Akko’s shoulder.

“I-I know how stressed you are already, and I didn’t want to bother Ch- Professor Ursula,” Akko protested weakly, knowing full well that it would do no good.

“If I have to let other people help me when I need it, then so do you, Akko,” Diana insisted, looking up into her girlfriend’s vibrant maroon eyes.

“We all know you’re amazing. You don’t have to keep proving it by doing everything alone.”

Startled, Akko could only stare at Diana, mouth slightly open and tears glinting at the corners of her eyes. After a moment, she smiled brightly and pulled Diana back into her arms, kissing her forehead softly.

“Right back at you, princess.”


	2. The Unfortunate Stopping Power of a Book and a Fancy Title

** _March_ **

Akko thought her head was going to explode.

Letting out another piteous groan, the brunette let her head fall forward onto the textbook open on the table in front of her. The quiet _thunk_ was absorbed instantly into the towering bookshelves all around her. Lotte had ditched her half an hour ago to hang out with Barbara, and Akko just couldn’t make sense of this complicated locomotion spell without her.

She was _trying_, she really was, but she had to work twice as hard as everyone else to learn things from a lecture or a book. Whenever she couldn’t understand something, or couldn’t get a spell to work, she always just got stuck in the endless loop of failure, frustration, and fear. She just couldn’t do it. _Why? Why couldn’t she make it work? What if she’ll always be falling further behind, no matter how hard she tries-_

Akko thumped her head onto the book again, attempting to jolt herself out of that train of thought.

Her first instinct was to just keep trying anyway, but she was so _tired_… and a certain blonde’s voice kept popping up in her head to insist she go seek out help when she needed it.

Maybe Diana could help. After some cuddles. And maybe a nap. Strictly to calm down, of course.

That sounded _heavenly_ after running face-first into a wall of spell theory for the whole afternoon.

Slightly energized just by the prospect, Akko peeled her face off the book and scurried up to the second floor to return it to its shelf. She had to dodge around other students lurking amongst the books or collapsed against shelves in an exam fugue.

Libraries tended to be a lot more populated than most people thought.

Hurrying out of the oversized archway that served the library as a door, Akko instinctively headed for Diana’s room. Even if she wasn’t there, Hannah might know where she went.

However, halfway there, Akko caught the distant murmur of many conversations echoing around the corner from the big lobby where they held the welcome ceremonies. She stopped dead in her tracks and smacked herself in the forehead with an exasperated “Gah! _…owww_.”

She had entirely forgotten about the formal reception for Dr. Brightleaf that the school was hosting today. Important magical researchers get all the stops pulled out for them, she supposed.

If Diana is anywhere, it will be there. Even though she really shouldn’t be.

Once Akko emerged into the atrium, lit softly by the fading afternoon sunlight through the tall windows and central circular skylight, she was immediately struck by how many people were crowded into the room. Plenty of Luna Nova students and faculty, of course, but also witches in different uniforms, a few members of the magical press, and a scattering of fairies bearing drink trays.

This wasn’t good.

Akko picked up her pace, diving into the crowd in her search for Diana. She got a few complaints about rudeness and comments on the length (or lack thereof) of her skirt, but her excitement to see Diana was rapidly giving way to unease. After the state Diana was in last time there was an event like this…

Akko had to find her.

After what felt like an eternity of searching, she finally spotted a familiar mint-streaked blonde head off to one side of the main room. Facing to Akko’s left to speak to someone, she was silhouetted against the edge of the nearby window, the sunlight haloing her gorgeous features against the rich blue fabric of the parted curtains. Akko stood in place, stunned by just how pretty her girlfriend was, yet again… and so quickly noticed that something was indeed wrong.

Diana’s cordial smile stretched thinly across her face like a chipped porcelain mask. Her hands, clasped demurely at her waist, trembled slightly. And every time the constant background noise swelled, she twitched, as if struggling mightily not to flinch at the sensory overload.

Akko had to restrain herself from running to Diana’s side. By the look of that person she was talking to, they were important. Making a scene with Diana at the center would only make it worse for her if she was already doing this badly.

She only knew what to look for because of how well she knew Diana. For now, nobody else should be able to tell. Fortunately, the necessary distraction was close at hand. With her height and unruly shock of red hair, Amanda was always easy to spot.

Within twenty seconds, Akko had ducked through the crowd to Amanda’s side, seizing her arm to get her attention away from the girl she was currently chatting up. “Oi, what-” was as far as she got before Akko tugged her down enough to be face-to-face and interrupted, “I need your help. Can you make a distraction, right over there?” She pointed to a spot by the wall about fifteen feet away from Diana- just far enough that she wouldn’t get caught up in anything Amanda pulled.

Something about the seriousness of Akko’s expression must have registered with Amanda, because she made no further protest. “Distractions are my specialty. Gimme thirty seconds and that cherry lip gloss you carry around.”

Akko handed it over without hesitation. She’d complain about its loss later. Right now, it was time to _move_. “I owe you one!” she called over her shoulder as she turned away and dived back into the crowd.

Making her way back over to the window Diana stood in front of, Akko kept a count going in her head. _Twenty-six… twenty-seven… twenty-eight… twenty-nine…_

Just over to her left, Akko heard Amanda’s voice call out, “Francesca! _Dolores!_” and then a great deal of scandalized screeching.

Right on cue. When Amanda said thirty seconds, she meant thirty seconds. They’d coordinated much more complex antics than this before.

Akko seized her opportunity, emerging from behind a group of older witches who were turning to look at the commotion, and wrapping an arm around Diana’s back. “Let’s go!” she hissed to the blonde, tugging her towards the closest exit. Diana resisted for about half a second, before sagging against the smaller witch and allowing herself to be shepherded through the gaps in the gawking crowd and out of the room.

The instant they had put a corridor between themselves and the event, Akko stopped and seized Diana in a tight hug. Diana stumbled back slightly, off-balance from her girlfriend’s sudden movement, and her back impacted lightly against the stone wall. She was breathing far too quickly, and Akko could feel her trembling.

She would have to try to convince her to skip some events like these, public image be damned. If _this_ is what getting trapped in a room full of people with her Heiress Face on for hours did to her, then it just wasn’t worth it. She murmured soothingly into Diana’s shoulder as she rubbed her back gently, trying her best to help soothe away the panic attack.

From what Diana had confided in her and from what she had seen, Akko knew Diana must be getting caught in a terrible feedback loop of expectation and social exhaustion. The more worn out she was, the more effort it was to keep up the perfect mask… but Diana had been conditioned to maintain appearances at the cost of most everything else. A single slip-up could cause her to get wrapped up in more anxiety, unable to leave and growing steadily more stressed out, making her mask slip yet more.

Not for the first time in recent weeks, Akko cursed Diana’s family for doing this to her.

After a long, painful while just breathing in each other’s arms in the darkened corridor, Diana found her voice again. _“Thank you_, _my heart,”_ she whispered into Akko’s hair. _“Next time, let me rescue you.”_

With the knowledge that she was able to help Diana through the worst of it, _accomplish_ something for the girl she was so smitten with, Akko was finally able to relax and enjoy having Diana wrapped up in her arms again.

Leaning up to peck her girlfriend on the lips, Akko smiled softly. “You already have,” she said. “Although I think we _both_ need a nap now, my lady.”

Voice wavering slightly, Diana murmured, “I think that can be arranged.”


	3. Let me, like rain, soothe you to slumber

** _April_ **

Rain drummed softly at the window, a faint grey light barely illuminating the Red Team’s dorm room.

In the blanketing dimness and quiet, two silhouetted figures occupied the edge of the lowest bunk.

“Too many people?” one asked, smiling softly as she stroked the other’s mane of green-blonde hair.

“Mhm,” she murmured into Akko’s stomach, making the brunette giggle quietly at the sensation.

Akko leaned back on one arm as she half-sat, half-sprawled on the edge of her bed, free hand still toying with a lock of blonde hair. That was where she had been when Diana came in and tackled her around the waist, so that’s where she stayed. It was hardly _un_comfortable to have her girlfriend’s arms warm around her waist and face buried in her stomach. Diana seemed content to use her as a pillow, even while kneeling on the floor. Akko certainly wasn’t going to object.

Diana hummed contentedly, turning her head to rest against Akko’s stomach. Akko watched with a soft, adoring gaze as the visible corner of Diana’s mouth quirked upwards, matching their gentle smiles together.

No more words were needed. The two were content to bask in the quiet warmth and affection, soothing hands and the tapping of rain against the window.

Away from the press of the crowd and the invasive questions, judgements, and demands of strangers and folk stranger still; away from the pressures and expectations of the newly revitalized magical world…

This was enough.


	4. A Princess, a Party, and a +5 to Intimidation

** _September_ **

The Pendragon Society Ball was in full swing, and Diana’s stomach was sinking rapidly.

Oh, it had started out tolerably. There were actually a handful of people at this event that she knew and liked, for once. Aside from Hannah and Barbara, who always came to these parties with her, bless them, she’d made sure that everyone from the Red and Green teams got an invitation. Akko had wandered off to get more food, Lotte was dancing with Barbara, and Amanda was off blatantly flirting with every pretty girl in the room, as usual.

It was a little easier to keep her perfect, smiling mask up when not every conversation was full of inane pleasantries and subtle nastiness. She’d had _some_ success in relaxing her standards for propriety in recent months, but it was always nice to have a few people who didn’t care if she acted like a human being occasionally.

However, in addition to the usual high-society crowd and her handful of friends, there was also the Asshole Squad.

Diana honestly couldn’t tell if the four boys were from Appleton, happened to know someone else here, or just snuck in to cause trouble. Regardless of how they got here, they had absolutely refused to leave her in peace for more than two minutes at a time for the last hour, and it had _not_ helped her levels of exhaustion.

The instant she had finished indulging Lord Omar’s fascination with the theory of magic, the inevitable, drawling “Hey, babe…” sounded from behind her. Her headache instantly intensified.

After pausing for exactly three seconds to force down her fatigue, Diana turned, _accidentally_ brushing aside the hand that had been reaching for her arm. “Ah. Preston,” she said, as neutrally as one could possibly be in the presence of such concentrated lout. “How can I help you?”

“Well, you got distracted before we could finish our conversation,” the boy replied, somehow managing to make it sound suggestive. Diana felt her control start to slip again, a knot of tension rising up in her chest. Diana wasn’t afraid of them- she spared a glance for his trio of tag-alongs, all of which sported slicked-back short brown hair identical to their ringleader, but without the benefit of a decent chin. Give them sunglasses and they’d be the world’s worst mafia. What she was increasingly afraid of, echoing around in her head, was that she’d have a meltdown in front of everyone here if they wouldn’t _leave her be_.

Wooden smile as bright as she could make it, Diana looked directly into his eyes and deadpanned, “Yes, it’s astonishing the lengths one has to go to for a decent conversation around here.”

Flushing slightly, Preston stepped closer and made a valiant attempt at looming over her. As he was barely half an inch taller than her and not particularly muscular, it didn’t work particularly well. “See, this is why I like you, babe,” he said, smirking unpleasantly. “You’ve got the beauty _and_ the brains.”

Diana took as deep and even of a breath as she could manage, struggling to keep her mind from spiraling back down into an overload of frustration and fear of social disgrace. If she gave him the tongue-lashing he deserved, she’d throw away her family’s good name and probably gain a family grudge in its place. Unfortunate, especially since he couldn’t take a hint if it were gift-wrapped for him by a valet.

“So,” he continued, invading her personal space even more, “what do you say? My buddies and I can show you a _real_ good time.”

Diana stiffened with anger and bit down on her tongue, choking on the insults that her reputation demanded she stifle. She was struggling to find words that weren’t “Fuck off” and was starting to slide headfirst down the spiral of panic when she spotted Akko storming through the crowd towards them in her confection of a crimson dress.

Heads were already turning to watch her furious progress, narrowed maroon eyes fixed on the backs of the boys harassing her. “Excuse me,” she forced out. “It seems someone else requires the pleasure of my company.” Mind still racing, Diana wasn’t sure what was going to happen when Akko got here, but…

“I don’t think so. You tried that last time, and now… _hey!_” he shouted indignantly as he was pushed aside by a tiny bundle of red ruffles and fury.

“Ak-” was all Diana got out before Akko stalked right up to her, seized her around the waist, and dipped her halfway to the floor in the most scandalously heated kiss she’d ever received.

Diana was swept away by the intensity of Akko’s kiss. Old instincts warred with the rush of sensation, insisting feebly that she couldn’t afford this kind of public display.

Then Akko’s gorgeously soft lips parted, and she abruptly lost her train of thought.

With her girlfriend’s surprisingly strong arms holding her up, Diana was free to take hold of Akko’s head and press herself even closer, savoring the sensation of their interlocking lips and twining tongues. She was warmth, softness, and Diana felt her fears slowly wash away in a flood of tactile affection. What was all that worry worth, in the face of this?

They must be causing quite a scene. Diana couldn’t particularly bring herself to care.

When they finally separated, Akko easily pulling her back upright, the first thing Diana noticed was the blatant shock of all the high-society hobnobbers all around them, Preston included. The second was the distant excited squealing and bouncing of Hannah and Barbara, partway across the room and beaming at them with matching grins.

The completely flabbergasted expressions on every member of the Asshole Squad were absolutely worth any respectability she had just lost. Diana turned in Akko’s grasp, wrapping one arm around the tiny brunette’s waist and pulling her flush against her side.

“I’m afraid I’m already spoken for, _sir,_” Diana declared. She could practically _feel_ Akko’s triumphant grin.

From her place against Diana’s side, the smaller witch pulled her wand from her lace-laden sleeve and brandished it at the boys. “And you’d better. Not. Forget it!” Akko punctuated each pause with a jab of the faintly-glowing wand.

A round of enthusiastic applause broke out from two different people scattered in the crowd, quickly dying out as the applauders were, presumably, given dirty looks by most of the others around them.

As Diana stood with her girlfriend, proudly possessive of each other, and faced the crowd of aristocrats, she felt a new rush of energy fill her. Akko’s presence gave her the strength to face them down without her mask, to feel again and let it show.

It was still nerve-wracking, and Diana could tell she would be curling up on her bed for most of tomorrow… but seeing how happy Akko was to be with her, and to see her open and unguarded, challenging and confident with Akko at her side…

She wouldn’t give it up for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Dianakko Week 2019, Day 7: Free Day!
> 
> Thanks as always to my beta, [afterados](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/5698514/afterados)! He helped me turn this into an actual coherent story. ^_^
> 
> Please let me know what you think! If you liked it, what was your favorite bit? Is there something you think I could have done better? Comments give me life, folks! The more specific, the better! <3
> 
> *flails off into the sunset*


End file.
